by Earl L. Martin Chapter 6 Concerning the Assured Hope of the Future… No Christian affirmation and no Christian proclamation would be complete without something being said about the assured hope of the future. This is true both as to the fulfillment of life for the individual and as to the accomplishment of God’s purpose in his Kingdom. This purpose is evident in the creation and becomes increasingly evident in a study of God’s redemptive purpose. Christian hope, along with Christian faith and Christian love, endures. We cannot segregate one from the other, for it is faith in the power of love which gives that assured hope. In the full fruition of Christian hope many events and incidents are involved, but all derive meaning and significance from the part they play in the final accomplishment of the purposes of God in a new creation. Involved in that assured hope is a firm faith that the future here in time is in God’s hands—a faith in his superintending providence that causes us to exclaim, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28)—a faith that even beyond death there is life, and that in the “sweet by and by” God will be all in all. In this chapter we shall look at the Christian’s hope of immortality; at the kingdom of God here and now and at its consummation in the eternal kingdom when Jesus comes again to deliver up the Kingdom to the Father, at which time will be the resurrection of the dead and the general judgment, with punishment of the wicked and reward of the righteous. God’s Purpose for the Individual Accomplished… The soul of man is immortal, or never dying. This is true both of the wicked and the righteous. But there is a quality of life which the Christian has—Jesus spoke of it as “eternal life,”—which begins here and persists forever in the life beyond death. It might indeed be said that the wicked exist forever and the righteous live forever. A sense of expectancy has always characterized vital religion. There is always something to which to press forward. The sense of present privilege is not at all inconsistent with the expectation of future glory. The two are not mutually exclusive but each complements and completes the other. The Christian hope of immortality is the assurance of continuing fellowship with God, which fellowship is a reality here and now. The doctrine of immortality is the expression of Christian insight into the mystery of the future. It is based upon such a sense of the meaning and worth-whileness of life and of God’s work and purpose as makes the future meaningful and immortality and continuance desirable as well as possible. Eternal life is not just life after death; it is a quality of life that begins here and continues in eternity. It is that life of which Jesus spoke, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Faith in the Future… The Christian has more than a hope of the future—his is a firm faith in the future which is first of all a faith in God. It is faith in God the Eternal that gives the basis of faith in the future. Believing in God we believe in his undying love, his divine wisdom, his eternal power, and his glorious and gracious purpose for man. Would this God create life and all these moral and spiritual personal values only to let death snuff them out? Believing in life and in the conservation of all spiritual values, we say with Tennyson: Thou wilt not leave us in the dust: Thou madest man, we know not why; He thinks he was not made to die; And Thou hast made him: Thou art just. >“I a Man Die---“ Death is always contemporary, and no year goes by for any of us without regretted partings. Furthermore, all of us are under sentence of death. This sentence may be indefinitely reprieved, but there is only a step between us and the grave. To all of the thoughtful comes Job’s question, not “will a man die” but “shall he live again?” Death is not only a certain fact; it is a tragic fact. It is not tragic just in the sense that it is sad, but in the proper sense of tragic: it is irresolvable, irreconcilable, an inexplicable tension in life—in conflict with life. That is, it is all of this if death is final; if death has the last word. It is a contradiction of life in terms of human personality. But death does not have the last word. Life is stronger than death. Over against the natural fear of death we put faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who triumphed over death. His victory over death has robbed death of its sting and the grave of its victory so that we can sing with Paul, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 15:57). Jesus faced his own death, insofar as its personal consequences were concerned, as calmly as though he were merely going into another room in the house: “In my Father’s house are many mansions”; “I go … I will come again”; “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1–3). This belief in an endless life gives faith not only for the future, but for here and now, for it gives the victory over one of life’s haunting fears—the fear of death; this faith delivers “them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:15). “Shall He Live Again?” There is a surer answer to Job’s question than all our aspirations, longings, reasonings. Jesus himself gives the answer: “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). From Toward Understanding God I quote, “There may be times when this question, ‘If a man die, shall he live again?’ holds only speculative interest. But there are other times when it holds practical interest. Life is sweet now, but what of the days when our earthly life is almost gone? And what of the dear dead who have gone on before? Has the Author of our being found nothing better for the goodness and strength and beauty of life than to blot it out? Are fidelity and purity and love so lightly esteemed by Him? I cannot believe it. So long as my heart testifies to a Moral Order, august, cosmic, eternal; so long as I can see the divine glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ; so long will I believe the testimony of my heart, that ‘because he lives, we shall live also’ and live always. This belief is a spiritual achievement, rather than a process of logic or a demonstration of science.” God’s Purpose for the Race Accomplished… God’s purpose of redemption is not only for the redemption of the individual; his purpose is also a social purpose the redemption of the race. His purpose is not only a kingdom—a kingdom of “righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost”—here and now, but also an eternal kingdom of unending peace and joy, which shall last while the ages shall roll. The Complete Redemption of the Race… God’s purpose now is that, by this process of redemption which we have been studying, he may have a new race of holy human beings with whom he may hold loving fellowship. This is one way of stating God’s purpose in creating man in the first place—that he might have a race of holy human beings upon whom he could bestow his love and who in turn could reciprocate that love by obeying him and serving one another. Sin came and that purpose was thwarted—but not defeated. God set himself to redeem out of that old race a new race of holy human beings with whom he could hold loving fellowship, and who in turn would be in fellowship with him and with one another. This he is now doing by saving men, binding them into fellowship both with himself and with one another in the church, which is the fellowship of the redeemed. His church is the present expression of that purpose. That purpose will be fully realized in the future when his redemptive work is complete, and all his family are with him and one another in that eternal home—the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. The Church Triumphant… Another way of stating the purpose of God is to state it as the final triumph of the church. The church has been spoken of as the church militant and the church triumphant. The church militant, now doing her redemptive work, will be the church triumphant when her work of redemption is done. Now she confronts the lost world—a world in sin, a world alienated from God—with the claims of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This “good news” is that Jesus Christ is the only “way, the truth, and the life.” In Him alone is salvation. When God’s purpose of redemption is accomplished, then the church militant will share with him and be the church triumphant. The Consummation of His Kingdom… The Kingdom has already come. It came when Jesus came the first time. But its consummation is yet to be. To grasp fully what is meant by this statement about the consummation of his kingdom we may need to consider for a moment what his kingdom is. The word “kingdom” is, in the Scriptures, used in a number of ways and with varied meanings, the meaning in any instance to be drawn from the context in which the word is used. First, the word “kingdom” is used to express God’s rule in a general way over his entire creation. Nothing takes place in the world without God in a general way having a hand in it. Second, the Kingdom of Israel over which and in which God ruled, as set out in the Old Testament, was in a special sense the kingdom of God before Christ. Third, there is the kingdom of grace, which is the rule of Christ in the hearts and lives of all Christians. The kingdom of God is wherever God reigns, whether in human hearts or human society. It is the realm of grace into which men and women come by the process of the new birth (John 3:5). It is where God’s will is done, even as Christ taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Wherever God’s will is done there is his kingdom. “The kingdom of God … is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17). “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). But there is a kingdom of God yet future. For this kingdom of grace must issue in a kingdom of glory. The Messianic kingdom is the present phase of the eternal kingdom of God. It is one of those “last things” or “final things,” the doctrine of which theology calls “eschatology.” It is that phase of the kingdom about which Jesus spoke in such passages as these: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34); “then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (13:43). Christian Eschatology… Maybe pardon needs to be begged for using this Greek word in a study like this, but it seems to be necessary if we are to grasp properly this concept of “the end” or of “last things.” By “the end” is not meant just the end of the world or of this present age, as “the end of time.” Christian eschatology is the outcome of Christian redemption, the accomplishment of the purpose of God—its completion. God is now working toward the accomplishment of a specific purpose, or “end.” Such a faith makes sense of things. Such a faith gives meaning to history, for history is not headed “down a blind alley” but is leading somewhere. The meaning of history lies beyond history. The meaning of time lies beyond time. God knows what that “somewhere” is and is working toward the accomplishment of that purpose. Christian eschatology is a basis for faith in the future, for history is leading in the direction of that “far-off, divine event toward which the whole creation moves.” Those ends or purposes were implicit in the beginning of human history, and they inhere in all God has done, is doing, and will do; and they will be fully realized at the last. So this we believe, and this we proclaim, that God’s purpose will in the end be accomplished. Under whatever symbols it may be set forth in the Scriptures and however the events of the future may bring it about, God’s purpose will be achieved. By seeing this end, or consummation, by faith, we see more clearly the ways in which God is now working in his church and kingdom to bring these purposes to full realization. Here is fulfillment. This consummation may be stated in many ways. When God’s redemptive purpose shall have been completed in the establishment of his eternal kingdom of glory, then that new race of holy human beings “shall know even as also we are known.” This is admirably summed up by Paul in I Corinthians 15:22–28: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all things under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” The foregoing passage gives not only a fitting conclusion to this section but a valuable springboard to the next sections, dealing with such subjects as the second coming of Christ, the general resurrection of the dead, the judgment, and final rewards and punishment. For all these are merely the means of the accomplishment of God’s final purposes, the doctrine concerning which we call Christian eschatology. The Return of Christ… That the Son of man is coming again to judge the world, vindicate righteousness, and consummate his kingdom in a transcendent sphere has been a vital element in the hope of Christians in all ages. It was clearly in the thinking and teaching of Jesus at his first advent that he would come again at the end of this age or dispensation to sit in judgment, to appraise the character of all men, to apportion their merit or demerit, to announce their destiny, and to overthrow evil and thus bring his kingdom to its supreme triumph and glory. The Teaching of the New Testament in General… It can be seriously questioned whether there is any reference in the Old Testament to a second advent of Jesus, as its forward look is concerned with his first advent. A recognition of this simple and self-evident fact would do away with many of the more fanciful ideas as to Christ’s coming again. But in the New Testament, during his own ministry and in the life and teaching of his followers, references abound. Scholars have estimated that reference to the return of Christ at the end of the age is made more than three hundred times in the New Testament, though it may seem strange to many that the popular expression “the second coming of Christ” is not found at all. Only once is it explicitly called Christ’s appearing a “second time” (Heb. 9:28). Yet in one way or another the idea resounds throughout the New Testament, in such terms as “manifestation” or “appearance” or just simple “coming.” Yet, let it be said that this teaching never stands alone as an isolated idea or truth but is always used to enforce ideas and teachings and exhortations that are related to the present gospel age. It is used to urge repentance, faith, patience, perseverance, readiness, diligence in service, and so on. Whatever the symbolism or imagery used in referring to this “day of the Lord,” the meaning is that this present age will be ended by some mighty manifestation of the personal presence and power of Jesus Christ when his redemptive purpose has been accomplished. We find references to “this far—off event toward which the whole creation moves” all the way from Jesus’ own gracious “I will come again” of John 14:3 to the “even so, come, Lord Jesus” of Revelation 22:20, the next to the last verse in the Bible. Would it be departing too much from our emphasis here to call attention to the last verse: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen”? Jesus’ Own Teaching… It is sometimes difficult to know just what “his coming,” as Jesus himself referred to it, means, as sometimes he seems to speak of his coming as a process and sometimes as an event. He “comes” in the person and power of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of men, in the working of his church, and the building of his kingdom. The phrase is even used as in Matthew 10:23 where Jesus seemed to refer to his ministry then in Palestine. It is used as referring to his coming in power in his kingdom as on the Day of Pentecost and afterwards: “There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matt. 16:28). But in most instances Jesus speaks of a coming again which is yet future even to us. Only a few such references need to be cited here. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2–3) is one of the most quoted of the many gracious promises Jesus gave. “The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matt. 16:27). Attention is called to the many parables of Jesus such as the wedding supper, the virgins, and others. Paul quotes Jesus when instituting the Lord’s Supper as saying: “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come” (I Cor. 11:26). The “Blessed Hope” of the Early Church… Even as the heavenward-gazing disciples of our Lord stood by at Olivet, angels proclaimed His coming again: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Jesus’ coming again found a place in Peter’s preaching right in the beginning of the work of the church: “He shall send Jesus … whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things” (3:20–21). The return of Jesus was one of the truths which brought hope when all else failed and the early Christians found no earthly basis for hope in this present world: “Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Fact and Speculation… There are few doctrines about which there has been more useless, and sometimes harmful, speculation than about our Lord’s coming again. The fact is certain; speculation is futile. As has been suggested, the teaching in the New Testament regarding Christ’s coming is associated with appeals to faithfulness, with the enforcement of present duties, and with assurances that God’s purposes will be accomplished. The Son of man commands all history, and it is working toward the accomplishment of God’s purpose. He is guiding, ruling, overruling, and he will triumph over evil and bring his work to a glorious consummation, by the mighty power of redeeming love. He is not coming to set up a kingdom here on this earth. He already has a kingdom, and it will “be delivered up to the Father” when Jesus comes. Then will be ushered in, not a thousand years’ reign, but an eternal kingdom. Concerning the time—nothing is more certain as to fact, but nothing more uncertain as to time. Nor man nor angel can tell. Only God himself knows. After all, what does it matter to us, when He is coming, whether at the first watch, at midnight, or at early dawn? “Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matt. 24:42). What Will Take Place at His Second Coming? The questions concerning the events of Christ’s future coming have been answered briefly, insofar as the facts are revealed to us in the Bible. Beyond that, one dares not speak. Christ comes again for the completion of his redemptive purpose, as has already been stressed. Neither his coming again nor any of the accompanying events are to be thought of in any arbitrary way, but each part as necessary to the completion of Christ’s purpose. The resurrection of the dead, the judgment, the destruction of the present earth and heavens, and the coming of a new heaven and new earth—all are necessary adjuncts of this purpose. The Resurrection… “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). When he comes “every eye shall see him” (Rev. 1:7). This includes the wicked. The idea of two physical resurrections, one of the righteous and another of the wicked a thousand years later, as premillennialism teaches, is without scriptural basis. Christ himself said, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28–29). The “first resurrection” spoken of in the Bible is a spiritual resurrection, which takes place at the time of the “new birth” when new life is given. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power” (Rev. 20:6). The first resurrection is that spoken of in John 5:25, “The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” It is the passing “from death unto life,” spoken of in I John 3:14. The “second” or bodily resurrection is at the end of time, and is for the redemption of our bodies as set forth in Romans 8:23, when “this mortal must put on immortality” (I Cor. 15:53). The Judgment… Following the resurrection there will be a general judgment: “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.” Christ will “judge the quick and the dead at his appearing” (II Tim. 4:1). “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:31–32). The Fate of the Lost… Those not redeemed or saved are spoken of as the lost. For at heart God’s universe is a moral universe, and sin brings its own judgment. The judgments of God are not arbitrary, but are the judgments which sin of itself inevitably brings. The future brings to completion that which has begun here. Men that are lost are men out of place. Man’s rightful relationship to God is fellowship with God. God is now redeeming men. One day he will judge man. He offers life, but to those who will not have life, only death—spiritual death—remains. There is eternal existence for the wicked, but it is existence apart from God. Whatever else hell may mean it means that place where God is not. Whatever else it may mean of separation, of isolation, of fire, of outer darkness, it means most of all, existence apart from God—lostness. Such a concept of the future ought to bring to everyone a sense of the seriousness of the present and of accountability to the Judge of the universe. God now brings to bear all the influences he can upon men to get them to turn to him and be saved. If they will not, then only judgment is possible. And we can rest assured that God’s judgments will be just, based upon the responsibility and accountability of the person, and His own holy sovereignty. The Reward of the Saved… Could anything less than heaven be a fitting climax to such a redemptive purpose and plan as we have been studying? Heaven means the vast society of perfect persons capable of fellowship with God and with each other, where all shall “know even as also we are known.” This is the ultimate of God’s saving grace—salvation. “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22). Heaven means the “many mansions” of Jesus. Heaven means home. Several years ago I wrote in Toward Understanding God, “There is no virtue or need in trying to be abstract or exact in forming or stating our concept of heaven, nor is there any excuse for a writer to utter dull prosaics, when that which is in the Bible is anything but prosaic. So a writer had better refrain from writing than to be anything but poetic or imaginative, and that puts me in something of a corner. For I would like to write about heaven, but I am not poetic enough. But I can call to mind some of the beautiful symbols under which it is pictured in the Bible, and within the narrow limits of our mind we can at least consider some of the indefinable concepts of the spiritual ideal, such as white throne, white robes, pearly gates, golden streets, stately mansions, no sin, no sickness, no death, no tears, no night, no need of sun, etc. But why not look at the picture as painted by one who saw in panorama the scene pass before him and wrote: “ ‘After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes’ ” (Rev. 7:9–17). Summing Up… Thinking back over our course of study in which we have tried to comprehend the entire sweep of God’s redemptive purpose in Christ Jesus, we want to say again, All this and more we believe; all this and more we proclaim. “In the beginning God” and his creation—in the end God and his new creation in eternal fellowship. All that has come and is yet to come in between has concerned us. Possibly a recalling of the chapter headings will remind us again of the great scope of Christian belief. Possibly a looking into our own hearts will remind us again of our great privilege of proclaiming the gospel to others. For if “this we believe” then it must inevitably follow “this we proclaim,” for “out of the heart are the issues of life.” The purpose of our study, if we have properly grasped it, has not been just to get us to believe in God and these other items of Christian belief and there let the matter rest. It has been to challenge us to believe both that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” and that therefore we should become heralds of that fact, beseeching men “in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” [ The End ] This material has a copyright. For further information, contact us at: "omifren@zoominternet.net" NOTE: ALSO AVAILABLE IN BOOK FORM FROM: Reformation Publishers 222 University Drive P.O. Box 276 Prestonsburg, KY 41653-0276 Reformation Publishers Orders... 1-800-765-2464 Information... 1-606-886-7222 Fax... 1-606-886-8222 Email... rpublisher@aol.com